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Tortoises with iPads spur protest at new Aspen Art Museum

Protesters are objecting to an Aspen Art
Museum exhibit that places iPads on the
shells of desert tortoises. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

The opening of Aspen's new $45 million art museum this weekend is planned to be a lavish affair with international attention from the jet set.

So how could tortoises spoil such an event?

A handful of desert tortoises have been turned into an art exhibit by having iPads mounted to their shells. The concept is that the turtles will mill about the museum — very slowly — displaying photographs of Aspen area ghost towns on the pads for the enjoyment of art lovers.

What museum officials and the artist who created the turtle exhibit, Cal Guo-Qiang, hadn't counted on was the severe disapproval of tortoise lovers.

More than 1,000 of them from across the country have signed an online petition objecting to the use of the tortoises as an exhibit. That was just in the first day after an Aspen resident posted the petition on Change.org.

On Facebook, Aspen residents now have taken to sarcastically referring to the unusual downtown Aspen art museum structure as "the turtle cage" because of its woven wood strip exterior.

The art museum defended itself Wednesday by releasing a statement outlining the lengths the museum is going to to ensure the tortoises' welfare.

Sara Fitzmaurice, a spokeswoman for the museum, said the African Sulcata tortoises were rescued from a breeder where they were living in an over-crowded pen and being overbred.

The iPad-outfitted tortoises have the blessing of the Turtle Conservancy for their art museum gig, Fitzmaurice said. And they are being closely monitored, cared for, and checked by a local veterinarian.

That veterinarian, Dr. Elizabeth Kremzier, issued a statement about how the environmental and nutritional needs of the tortoises are being met and that the tortoises aren't being unduly stressed.

"In my opinion, the tortoises have adapted well to their new habitat, and the iPads have not interfered in any way with their natural behavior," Kremzier wrote.

The art vs. animal rights brouhaha began when lifelong Aspen resident Lisbeth Oden, saw a photo of one of the museum tortoises with two iPads mounted at an upright angle on its shell.

A closer look at how the iPad mount is placed upon the tortoises. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

Oden had worked with tortoises in Florida in the past and said she had learned about the sensitivity of their carapaces and their similarity to human fingernails.

"To have anything attached to them is just not right. It is exploitation of animals for human enjoyment," said Oden, who called herself passionate about animals but "not a Green Peace activist or anything."

Those true animal rights activists have joined in the Aspen "free the tortoise" movement.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group, which normally protests the overabundance of fur coats in Aspen, is weighing in on the art tortoises.

Stephanie Bell, a casework director with the organization, told the Aspen Daily News that having tortoises wander an art museum with iPads on their backs is "the height of disrespect."

The 33,000-square-foot museum, which was funded with $72 million in donations from local moguls who pitched in more than $1 million each, has been touted as the latest magnet to bring international culture to Aspen.

The museum opens to the public at 5 p.m. Saturday for a 24-hour event that will include tours, concerts, films, a dance party, yoga — and wandering tortoises which, by the way, get credit for taking the photos that will show on their iPads.

The tortoises were taken to ghost town sites with their iPads to record the scenery.

Fitzmaurice said the tortoises will be sent to new homes in educational and conservation facilities once the exhibit ends on Oct. 5.

She also noted that it is not the museum's practice to censor artists.

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